1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a facsimile machine, and more particularly, to a technique for reporting a no-paper state to a calling party (i.e., a sender of a facsimile message) during reception of the facsimile message.
2. Description of the Related Art
A representative function of a facsimile machine is to transmit and receive documents. If a caller (i.e., a sender of a facsimile message) puts a document on a document tray and dials a telephone number for a called facsimile machine, a calling facsimile machine reads the document and performs a designated protocol to transmit image data of the facsimile message to the called facsimile machine. The called facsimile machine receives the image data according to protocol upon receiving a ring signal and prints the image data on recording paper. However, even though the called facsimile machine runs out of recording paper while receiving the image data, the calling party is not aware that the calling facsimile machine has no paper. Therefore, the sender judges this state (i.e., disconnection of the facsimile transmission) as an error in communication and repeatedly attempts to transmit the document. That is, when there is no paper while the called facsimile machine receives the image data, the calling party continues to attempt to re-transmit the document unnecessarily.
The patent to Bell et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,047, entitled Facsimile Machine Having User Notification Capability, discloses a facsimile machine which determines the status of a received or transmitted facsimile message and in response thereto dials a specific telephone number and transmits a message (which may include an audio message) to notify a user of the status of the received or transmitted facsimile message.
The patent to Tanaka, U.S. Pat. No. 5,140,439, entitled Facsimile Communication Method And Facsimile Machine, discloses a facsimile communication method which determines whether a receiver facsimile machine is successful in receiving the transmitted image information and which sends a second station related to the receiver facsimile machine a second voice message from the receiver facsimile machine when the receiver facsimile machine has failed to receive the transmitted image information.
The patents to Kinoshita, and Toyama, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,210,621 and 5,155,601, respectively Facsimile Apparatus, and Data Communication Apparatus, disclose facsimile arrangements in which the receiving facsimile machine sends a voice message to the sending facsimile machine upon successfully receiving a facsimile transmission.
Both the Bell et al. '047 and Tanaka '439 patents disclose methods for transmitting a voice message after dialing a telephone number of a calling party, thereby forming a call line in order to inform the calling party of a state (including reception error and reception failure) of a called party in response to a call. The telephone number of the calling party has been previously stored by a called party.
The present invention is distinguished from the above references in that the present invention discloses transmitting a voice message in response to a state of no paper of a called party through a call line previously formed between a calling party and the called party, using the call reservation function, without dialing a telephone number of a calling party additionally in order to inform the calling party of the no paper state of the called party in response to a call in case that a state of no paper occurs.
The call reservation function is a function which makes one party perform communication with the other party right after a transmission or reception terminates without redialing a telephone number of the other party. The call reservation function can be set in either a calling party or a called party.
The present invention discloses sending a call reservation request data through the call line previously formed to the calling party in case the no paper status occurs during transmission; and after that, a telephone communication is accomplished between the calling party and the called party when the calling party responds to the call reservation request. The called party transmits a voice message informing the calling party of no paper status and number of pages transmitted through a telephone call line.
The following additional patents each disclose features in common with the present invention but do not teach or suggest the specifically recited technique of the present invention: U.S. Pat. No. 5,355,230 to Kaneko, entitled Facsimile Apparatus And Facsimile System, U.S. Pat. No. 5,283,665 to Ogata, entitled Facsimile Apparatus, U.S. Pat. No. 5,644,404 to Hashimoto et al., entitled Facsimile Server System Capable Of Recognizing At Transmitting End An Access To Received Facsimile Data At Receiving End, U.S. Pat. No. 4,922,524 to Baba et al., entitled Facsimile System With A Voice Transmission Function, U.S. Pat. No. 5,717,744 to Yoshida et al., entitled Data Communicating Apparatus Having User Notification Capability And Method, U.S. Pat. No. 5,396,342 to Meyer, entitled Automatic Remote Facsimile Testing System, U.S. Pat. No. 4,956,860 to Murata, entitled System For Reporting Status Data In A Facsimile Network, U.S. Pat. No. 5,214,690 to Kato et al., entitled Facsimile Device, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,412,710 to Tanaka, entitled Facsimile Machine Capable Of Transmitting Voice Message.